Brandon Lawson’s Perplexing Disappearance

Missing person cases are a tragic phenomenon that often bleeds into the realm of true crime.

In 2021, 521,705 people were reported missing in the USA; in 2022, almost 100,000 of those individuals were still missing.

Naturally, for those who have inexplicably vanished and not been found, we often imagine something sinister must have happened to them.

Despite hoping for a positive outcome, where the missing person is found or eventually turns up alive and well, it’s human to consider the dark alternative: that they’ve been killed.

Among the plethora of missing persons cases that plague the USA, one notable tale is that of Brandon Lawson.

The native Texan was driving in the dead of night on the desolate Route 277 when he ran out of gas.

Stranded in the middle of the road, he made a series of strange phone calls to family members and the police, asking for help.

When it arrived, Brandon wasn’t in his car. He was never seen again.

Over the years, several theories have emerged about what happened to Brandon, and tragically, none of them offered much hope of him being found alive.

The Events Of Route 277

On the night of August 8, 2013, Brandon Lawson arrived at his San Angelo, Texas home, where he lived with his longtime girlfriend, Ladessa Lofton.

However, the couple would end up embroiled in an explosive argument, with Ladessa believing her partner was using illicit substances once again.

The pair met in high school and went on to have three children together, with Brandon adopting Ladessa’s child from a previous relationship. Still, their partnership wasn’t without its ups and downs.

Brandon had struggled with substance abuse in the past, though it seemed he had overcome his demons and renounced drugs in the months leading up to his disappearance.

However, his behavior on that summer night led Ladessa to think he’d relapsed, causing her to confront Brandon. The confrontation resulted in him storming out of their home, getting in his silver Ford F-150, and speeding down Route 277.

He was heading to his father’s home in Crowley, Texas, a three-hour drive from San Angelo.

He set off just before midnight and was due to arrive at 3 am; however, he ran out of gas just an hour into the journey. His truck was almost in the middle of the road, straddling both lanes.

Luckily, he still had enough battery left in his phone to call for help. The events that followed, though, would see that help never found its way to Brandon—seemingly because of his own erratic behavior.

A Strange Turn Of Events

Brandon called his brother, Kyle, and asked for help. He managed to tell him where he was, though Kyle wasn’t getting much sense out of Brandon besides that.

He claimed that he was being chased out of town and later said that the people chasing him were the “Mexicans in the neighborhood.”

**Map showing where Brandon Lawson vanished.**

This caused Kyle to think Brandon was suffering from substance-induced psychosis, and he asked him if he was hallucinating.

Brandon said he wasn’t, though this didn’t convince Kyle. Still, the concerned brother woke his wife and child up and told them they had to help Brandon with him. Kyle picked up some gas and made his way to Brandon’s location.

As he did, a panicked Brandon called the police. “I’m in the middle of a field,” he told the operator. “There’s one car here. The guy’s chasing me in the woods. Please hurry!”

Immediately, the operator dispatched a car to Brandon’s location. In the meantime, he kept making strange comments, seemingly having a conversation with someone other than the operator.

After hanging up, Brandon made more calls to his brother, as well as Ladessa, and his neighbor.

He would call the police back, though his phone signal rendered some parts of the call inaudible.

In one call, Brandon told his brother he was bleeding, though it wasn’t clear what had happened to him to cause this.

The police arrived on the scene just after 1 am. They found Brandon’s vehicle, but he wasn’t at the scene. Kyle arrived shortly after the officer did and called his brother.

Brandon claimed he could see them, stating he was “right here,” though neither the officer nor Kyle could spot Brandon.

Unbeknown to the officer who arrived on the scene, Brandon had a warrant out for his arrest at the time. Kyle thought that perhaps his brother was hiding in the wooded area nearby, afraid of getting arrested.

So, hoping he was correct, Kyle parked up a short distance away from Brandon’s abandoned car when the officer eventually left the scene. He was waiting for his brother to reappear once the officer had gone.

By this point, it was just before 1:20 am, and Brandon’s phone would head straight to voicemail if someone tried calling him. It would never ring out after this point.

When it became clear Brandon wouldn’t make an appearance, Kyle left the gas-filled container by the abandoned Ford truck and headed home.

However, worried about his brother, he went back to the highway just a few hours later, hoping to see that Brandon had indeed used the gas, and set out on the drive to their father’s home.

He was shocked that the truck was in the same place; the gas remained unused. The Ford was towed away that morning.

Brandon Lawson was never seen or heard from again.

What Really Happened To Brandon Lawson?

Prior to his vanishing, Brandon had been clean from narcotics for six months. For years, drugs had consumed the 26-year-old, specifically methamphetamine.

However, in the lead-up to his erratic behavior on August 8, 2013, his life had become incredibly stressful and demanding.

Not only did he have to work long weeks in the oil fields, often raking up over 60 hours per week, but he and Ladessa had just welcomed a baby boy home. Life was chaotic, causing Brandon to revert back to his old ways.

On August 7, the day before he vanished, he called his brother Kyle to ask him where he could obtain some narcotics.

It seems Brandon may have found a way to get the drug since he didn’t return home that night.

When he did eventually turn up on the night of August 8, Ladessa was incensed that her longtime partner had stayed out all night without telling her where he was.

From his behavior, she believed he’d started using illegal substances again, something he denied.

After the row and taking off in his truck, Ladessa realized there wasn’t much gas left in the vehicle.

Despite their argument, she didn’t want him to get stranded in the middle of nowhere, so she left the gas canister outside the property so he could get some gas.

**Brandon Lawson’s memorial site. Photo via GoSanAngelo.**

There was no way she could know this would be the last time she’d ever see Brandon again.

He was reported missing days later, and the Texas Rangers embarked on a search of the area where Brandon was last located.

They even utilized a helicopter to see if they could spot him from above in the dense woodland. They found nothing.

The Lawson family began their own investigation to help find Brandon, creating a social media page dedicated to receiving tips and information that might help crack the case—still, nothing.

Kyle would later say that although Brandon was a “felon,” he wasn’t a bad person. He noted that he took care of his kids, worked hard, and wasn’t a “dope fiend”—he was a man who’d simply lost his way with drugs.

A further investigation into Brandon’s movements before his vanishing found that he’d withdrawn funds from his 401(k), though his family doesn’t think this suggests anything sinister. They said he would never leave his children or his loved ones.

Then, in early 2022, there was movement in the cold case, though it didn’t look promising. Clothing was found near his last known location and was positively identified as Brandon’s.

Shortly thereafter, human remains were found, and they were believed to be Brandon’s.

DNA testing can be tricky after so much time has passed; if the body was his, Brandon would have been exposed to the elements for a decade, meaning conclusive testing isn’t easy.

As of 2024, the DNA test results are yet to be revealed. However, the Lawson family and Ladessa Lofton, the mother of his children, believe the remains to be his.

The only question remaining is whether it was death by misadventure, as suspected, or if something far more sinister happened to Brandon.